He goes
down like a goat, with his bare feet, looking cautiously at each
step, sometimes putting out a foot and withdrawing it again in
favour of better footing, and sometimes gathering his four feet
under him and sliding or jumping. The Mexican saddle has great
advantages on these tracks, which are nothing better than ledges cut
on the sides of precipices, for one goes up and down not only in
perfect security but without fatigue. I am beginning to hope that I
am not too old, as I feared I was, to learn a new mode of riding,
for my companions rode at full speed over places where I should have
picked my way carefully at a foot's pace; and my horse followed
them, galloping and stopping short at their pleasure, and I
successfully kept my seat, though not without occasional fears of an
ignominious downfall. I even wish that you could see me in my Rob
Roy riding dress, with leather belt and pouch, a lei of the orange
seeds of the pandanus round my throat, jingling Mexican spurs, blue
saddle blanket, and Rob Roy blanket strapped on behind the saddle!
This place is grandly situated 600 feet above a deep cove, into
which two beautiful gulches of great size run, with heavy cascades,
finer than Foyers at its best, and a native village is picturesquely
situated between the two.
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